U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who is scheduled to arrive in India Monday evening, will meet with the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and several other leaders to revive momentum in flagging diplomatic ties and fire up the trade relations between the two countries.
"This trip will be an important opportunity to strengthen our partnerships within the region and reaffirm our commitment to re-balancing US foreign policy towards the Asia-Pacific," said the White House.
After landing in Mumbai, the American leader will visit Gandhi Smriti, a museum dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi in the Indian film city and then will deliver a speech on U.S.-India relations and meet the business community and students in the city. Biden is accompanied by his wife Jill.
After Mumbai, Joe Biden will fly to New Delhi to meet some of the top Indian leaders including President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari, according to the ND TV.
The U.S. leader's visit is expected to lay the ground work for Singh's visit to the U.S. in September-October, during which he will meet with the U.S. President Barack Obama.
Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram last week returned from the U.S. where he met several top leaders and business heads in an effort to attract more foreign investment in India.
Upon arriving from U.S., the finance minister announced several economic reforms including relaxing foreign direct investment in key sectors such as defense, insurance and telecom along with others in order to give a booster doze to the ailing economy and stem the fall of Indian currency
"This has come at a very good signal. We have been meeting people, meeting think-tanks. We have talked about these steps that India has taken today. This is good news for them and there is tremendous appreciation for this in the United States," said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of the Confederation of Indian Industry.
